Shortlisted Little Horton candidate and former Respect activist Nasreen Khan says remarks she made five years ago were ‘unacceptable’

BRADFORD’S Labour party has found itself embroiled in another anti-Semitism row, after shortlisting for political office a woman who faced criticism for a series of controversial posts about Jews.

Former Respect activist Nasreen Khan issued an apology after making a series of posts about Jews on Facebook five years ago.

Last night Ms Khan, who has since joined the Labour Party, said she had apologised for the comments she made about a video called ‘The Palestine you need to know’ and accepted they were “inappropriate and unacceptable”.

In 2012 using the name Naz Kahn she said: “It’s such a shame that the history teachers in our school never taught us this but they are the first to start brainwashing us and our children into thinking the bad guy was Hitler.

“What have the Jews done good in this world??”

When questioned about the comment, she had added: “No, I’m not a Nazi, I’m an ordinary British Muslim that had an opinion and put it across. We have worse people than Hitler in this world now.”

And, facing further criticism, she had said: “Stop beating a dead horse. The Jews have reaped the rewards of playing victims. Enough is enough!!”

The remarks made headlines at the time, prompting a spokesman for Respect to say Ms Khan had made the comments before joining their party and “now deeply regrets and repudiates that posting”.

“I have travelled a long way since then and learned so much. I profoundly regret the comments I made in 2012 and any offence they caused.”

Subject: Nasreen Khan/ Naz Kahn
Dear Mr Corbyn,
I write to you with the gravest of concerns regarding one of the shortlisted candidates Nasreen Khan (previously known as Naz Khan/ Naz Kahn) for the Bradford constituency of Little Horton.
In the past, Ms Khan has expressed deeply anti Semitic views and as a Respect activist, and has worked tirelessly to harass and bully at least two local women (apart from me) over a period of 5 years.

In the 2017 General Election, Ms Khan supported Salma Yaqoob against Naz Shah at local hustings. In fact, Ms Khan claimed that Naz Shah’s claims of harassment & bullying were false and that she herself had never experienced any kind of harassment and bullying. That is not surprising in the least given that Ms Khan herself was responsible for the harassment and bullying of many people while she was a member of the Respect Party and the Respect Women’s Officer. This harassment includes online and physical.

In order to give you a small flavour of the kind of harassment that Ms Khan has engaged in against me, here are a few examples; in 2014, I was subjected to a violent attack by Ms Khan at a local swimming pool, which was reported to the local police.

In December of the same year, Ms Khan rang and cancelled an event for child victims of sexual violence that I had organised at the University of Bradford by impersonating me.

She has also harassed other organisations that have been associated with me, including the Birmingham based Amira Foundation both on social media and by contacting them directly.

In previous years, she has been the subject of legal proceedings and was given an injunction preventing her from contacting a vulnerable, elderly woman whose doors and windows were smashed in on the alleged orders of Ms Khan.

Ms Khan has never apologised for her openly anti Semitic views and has only now denounced those views in light of her potential deselection. Her backtracking of her racist and facist- supporting views seems suspiciously and conveniently timed. It would seem that the local party have not conducted the requisite background checks. Had they done so, all of this and more information would have emerged thus negating Ms Khan suitability to stand as a councillor for the Labour Party.

I now urge you to take a decisive step and distance yourself from a candidate who has consistently shown herself to be a racist, a supporter of fascism and a Holocaust denier.

Kind regards
Aisha Ali-Khan.

Comment.

It is up to those with more intimate knowledge of the facts in this case to make a decision, if, as it seems clear, one needs to be made in the light of the controversy.

It is up to that is those responsible for Little Horton Ward in Bradford as a whole, and the national Labour Party to decide, not “Jeremy Corbyn”. The Party leader should not be dragged into this.;

But two things stand out: the backing for George Galloway and, “In the 2017 General Election, Ms Khan supported Salma Yaqoob against Naz Shah at local hustings.”

7 Responses

Sorry for blank comment. I don’t think you’re lying, but can you point to any independent verification of her nomination ? I believe the selection meeting was on Friday evening. Also do we know how old Nasreen was in 2005 ? I would think extreme youth would be the only mitigating factor here, but I don’t know her age.

Bob Robbins. Who is a liar and why? There may be some confusion as to whether or not she has been selected but your language is inappropriate.
Nils. Are you claiming that in 2012 she was too young to understand the very specific and detailed remarks she made about Jews?

My knowledge of Respect is limited to Tower Hamlets where they had twelve councillors all Bangladeshi Muslims and a vicious anti semitic campaign was run against the Labour candidate defeated by George Galloway, Oona King. Her father was black and her mother Jewish and both were used against her in a smear campaign orchestrated by The East London Mosque and Muslim Centre and activists of the SWP.

Anti Jewish smear leaflets in Bengali found their way into non Bangladeshi letterboxes and were translated. The Mosque has hosted some of the most virulent anti semitic and anti Christian speakers and events. One speaker described Jews as pigs and snakes, very inclusive and multi cultural but unfortunately par for the course. I could go on and on with more and more evidence but I think you all get the drift. It is unfortunate that sections of Muslim society in this country as well as much, if not most, of the left are ridden with a hatred of Jews

So Alias Yousaf aka George Galloway's criminal lawyer crawls out of the woodworks to post further defamatory lies about me after I spoke up about his friend Naz Kahn/ Nasreen Khan'e anti Semitism. Shocking but not surprising, sadly pic.twitter.com/Ncb2qNs93c